The authorities in northwest Turkey have detained a former teacher sentenced to prison due to her alleged links to the Gülen movement for attempting to flee to neighboring Greece, the Kronos news website reported on Monday.
Ferhan Oktan was sentenced to six years in prison on terrorism charges for working at a private school affiliated with the faith-based Gülen movement; membership in a labor union affiliated with the movement; and having an account at the now-closed Bank Asya, which are all considered signs of membership in the Gülen movement and criminal evidence.
Oktan has two children, one aged 14 months and the other 9 years old.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since the corruption investigations of 2013, which implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began targeting its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following an abortive putsch in 2016, which he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
Oktan’s husband, Medeni, was also sentenced to prison on similar grounds. “I spent four years in prison. I was released, but they detained me again,” he said. “They leave us no choice but to leave.”
The Turkish government accepted such daily activities as having an account at a Gülen movement affiliated bank, working at any institutions linked to the movement or subscribing to certain newspapers and magazines as benchmarks for identifying and arresting tens of thousands alleged members of the movement on charges of membership in a terrorist organization.
In a similar case, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that the conviction of another teacher of terrorism over activities such as having an account at a particular bank was unlawful. The court found that using legal membership in a trade union as evidence against the individual violated the right to freedom of assembly and association under Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Since the coup attempt, a total of 705,172 people have been investigated on terrorism or coup-related charges due to their alleged links to the movement.
Between June 2023 and 2024, Turkish authorities have carried out a total of 5,543 police operations and arrested 1,595 people linked to the movement.
There are currently 13,251 people in prison who are in pre-trial detention or convicted of terrorism in Gülen-linked trials.
In addition to the thousands who were jailed, scores of other Gülen movement followers had to flee Turkey to avoid the government crackdown.
